The VMI cross country teams will return to action Saturday, as they travel to Louisville, Ky. for the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships. The women's 6K race will get underway at 10 a.m., while the men's 10K is scheduled for a 11:15 a.m. start. A link to Championship Central is above, containing all the info fans will need to enjoy their experience in the Bluegrass State.
The race will be hosted by the Louisville Cardinals, and will be held at the course in E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park. The course itself is a fast, mostly flat facility that lends itself to very quick times. 12 runners broke the 24-minute barrier for the 8K at Oct. 2's Greater Louisville Classic. By comparison, Felix Kitur led VMI in the Keydets' fastest race of 2010, finishing sixth at the Charlotte Invitational in a time of 25:02. That time would have placed Kitur 88th in Louisville.
In another interesting tidbit about the course, it is named for former Naval Officer and Jefferson County (the county Louisville sits in) Judge Executive E.P. Sawyer. One of Sawyer's two daughters, Diane, is now the anchor for ABC World News Tonight.
The VMI men come off a strong third-place showing at the Big South Championships, where Kitur and Andrey Dmitriev each earned their first career All-Conference honor. Kitur placed eighth, finishing in 25:20 and outkicking Dmitriev to the stripe, while the native Russian was ninth in 25:21. Ian McGinn and Ermin Mujezinovic also had top 20 performances. Mujezinovic is the only Keydet who ran at last year's regional meet that is also expected to compete Saturday, as he posted a 32:45 10K effort to finish 86th overall.
The Keydet women also finished third at the conference meet, led by individual runner-up and Freshman of the Year Tammy Cheung. Cheung set a new 5K school record with her 18:00 time in Blacksburg, and is scheduled to run her first collegiate 6K on Saturday. Senior Hannah Granger will be competing in her final regional meet, coming off her third All-Big South honor in cross country, while sophomore Jenna Moye will be looking to improve upon last year's 59th-place overall effort. Freshmen Dalton Kuhar and Rebecca Sweeney will also be looking to put exclamation points on their seasons, as Kuhar comes off three consecutive personal best outings, while Sweeney was a solid 16th at the conference meet Oct. 30.
"Both of our teams have been looking really good in practice these last two weeks," stated VMI head coach Paul Spangler. "I feel our goal of a top-15 finish in the region can be obtained with a solid effort by both programs. The highest finish for the men during my tenure has been 18th, with the top women's finish being 21st. I believe both of these marks will fall Saturday."
In order for any team to qualify to the national meet, it must finish in the top two overall at its regional meet, or be one of 13 at-large selections based on in-season success. Meanwhile, the NCAA Championships will include 38 total individuals who are not part of qualified teams. That means that the top four individuals from each regional meet whose teams do not qualify will advance, as well as two at-large selections.
